Sarasota Golf Club to be sold, developed into housing

Chris Hatton bought his home in 1998, in part because it had a nice view of the Sarasota Golf Club's links.

But now, the peaceful greens, the palms and the moss-covered oak trees that line the 15th fairway in his backyard will be ripped up to make way for more houses.

The club, one of Southwest Florida's oldest public courses, will close for good on Memorial Day as the owner finalizes plans for a new residential development.

It is not the first time the course's days have appeared to be numbered. Hatton and his neighbors have battled various subdivisions proposed to replace the 52-year-old golf course for more than a decade, successfully fending off plans by at least two previous developers.

But this time will likely be different. If it reaches fruition, Sarasota Golf Club will become one of the first golf-course conversions since Southwest Florida's housing market crashed six years ago -- yet another sign of the resurgent demand for residential real estate.

"We've tried to stop it because we felt it was an amenity, promised to those of us who bought lots here," Hatton said. "Nobody believed it ever could happen. It really is a shame."

Speculation had been circulating for months among regular golfers there that the club might close, but the owners of the property and its manager, Pope Golf, denied the reports.

Pope Golf chief executive Keith Pope said he had been negotiating options to either extend his management contract or purchase the 172-acre property to keep the course open, but talks with owner Wallace Devlin broke down.

Pope hoped to redesign the course in a way that would have allowed for up to 300 homes to be built there. He declined to disclose terms of his offer to Devlin.

Pope has managed the course for five years, installing new putting greens and investing in other improvements, he said. The course also has a pro shop, practice facility and snack bar.

"When we took it over, it was in pretty bad shape," Pope said. "We put our heart and soul into this course, and it has been well-received. Our plan would have made it a successful property. We're pretty disappointed."

Prior to Devlin, various other owners had planned to replace the course with housing. The property, on North Leewynn Drive east of Interstate 75, near Palmer Boulevard, already is zoned for residential development.

Devlin did not return phone calls seeking comment Monday, and details regarding his proposed housing development were not available.

The bank acquired the deed in 2000 from the California firm Kollstar Golf LLC for $2.89 million. Kollstar purchased the course in July 1998 for $3.2 million.

Miami-based major builder Lennar Homes had looked at building houses on the property and, in the mid-2000s, national builder Centex Homes also planned to buy the course with the idea of developing 106 estate-sized houses. Local homeowners filed suit to block the development, and Centex eventually dropped its bid.

Sarasota Golf Club was part of a larger trend during the mid-2000s housing bubble, in which developers bought struggling golf courses for land to build homes on. In all, about half a dozen Southwest Florida courses were converted into residential communities during a three-year period beginning in 2005.

As the market sputtered, though, so did the concept. Until now.

Many real estate watchers believe the conversion trend could once again become in vogue, even as other builders are working to develop new private golf courses, such as the Esplanade at Lakewood Ranch.

At Sarasota Golf Club, at least a few residents of neighborhoods near the course fear new homes will lower the values of their properties, which will no longer have golf course frontage.

They also worry that the developer could begin to raze the course but run out of money before completing the new development, a scenario that happened at the Forest Lakes golf course in Sarasota. Today, that course is overgrown with weeds.

It comes as no consolation to Hatton and others that additional courses could become casualties at a time housing is hot and golf's popularity has waned.

"There's less land and there's more pressure on developers," said prominent Bradenton home builder Carlos Beruff.

"But it's also a much bigger economics issue than that. Guys who own these old courses can't pay to sustain them because they can't afford the overhead," Beruff said. "Old golf courses that haven't been updated or maintained simply don't work."